How to Regain Internet Access

Malware has always played dirty and is getting better at preventing you from removing them. Disabling your access to the Internet — while keeping access open for it’s own purposes — is becoming a common tactic. This move greatly hinders you from obtaining the tools that could help remove the infection. Very clever move! But we’re going to show ‘em who’s Boss! I’m going to give you some things to try that may restore your connection long enough to enable you to get the help you need.

Check Proxy Settings

Sometimes the virus/trojan/whatever may change the proxy settings in your browser to suit it’s needs. Generally, proxy servers are not used in a home setting and so there are usually no proxy servers specified in the proxy settings . However, a company computer may be configured to use a proxy server in order to monitor and control Internet usage. Assuming your computer is not setup for a company proxy server, follow these instructions to check the proxy settings of Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Internet Explorer

In Control Panel, click on “Internet Options”. Then click on the “Connections” tab and then the “Lan Settings” button. You will see a “Local area Network (Lan Settings) ” dialog box. In the lower section labeled “Proxy Server”, check the setting named “Use a Proxy Server for your Lan”. It is not normally checked in a home setting. If it is checked, try unchecking it. Click OK, close Internet Explorer if it is open and re-start it.

Firefox

Launch FireFox. Click on menu bar, then click Tools->Options->Advanced. Next, click the “Network” tab. Look for the section labeled “Connection” and click the “Settings…” button. Normally, the option “No Proxy” is selected. If it is set otherwise, try selecting “No Proxy”, click OK, close FireFox and restart it.

Reset Winsock

If neither of the above restores your Internet access, there is another trick, but you need to type something at the Command line. Actually, I’ll give you two approaches to try.

To open a Command Window : Click the “Start” button, then click “All Programs”, then click “Accessories”, then click “Command Prompt”. At the flashing cursor prompt, type the following two commands and press the ENTER key at the end of each line.

netsh winsock reset catalog

exit

This resets Windows Winsock settings to default values. Resetting may disable any third party communications programs that have made additions when they were installed. That is most likely not of primary concern to you at this point. You just need Internet access back so you can fight the virus. Besides, depending on the program that’s affected, it may re-enable the settings automatically. If not, a quick re-install should get things going again.

Now, restart the computer. If that still doesn’t allow Internet access, we can take things a step further. Open a Command Window as before, and type the following list of commands, pressing the ENTER key after each line.

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

ipconfig /flushdns

netsh winsock reset catalog

netsh int ip reset New_IP_Settings.txt

exit

Restart the computer and try your browser now.